Distraction
by SomeKindofAuthor
Summary: During the Max-half-Flock’s stay in Europe, Ari and Nudge are left alone. Her ability to talk for hours with pausing for breath has surprising healing effects for a dying Eraser. Set during StWaoES. Friendship. Not in any way romantic.


Distraction

Summary: During the Max-half-Flock's stay in Europe, Ari and Nudge are left alone. Her ability to talk for hours with pausing for breath has surprising healing effects for a dying Eraser. Set during StWaoES. Friendship. Not in any way romantic.

**A/N: The result of a self-imposed challenge. Maybe OOC or implausible with the StWaoES time-line, but here are my two favorite characters in a small oneshot. ****Trying to add as much love in Ari's life as I can. **

"I used to be afraid of you."

Ari tried to ignore her. In one of her rare acts of kindness, Max had warned him about Nudge and her ability to turn each conversation into a therapy session-- in which Nudge was the patient, and you were the therapist trying not to slowly go mad yourself from her never-ending chatter. "The only way to deal with Nudge," Max insisted, "is to ignore her, or, before your ears bleed, run away. Quickly." Ari had smiled slightly (he knew this kind of Max, the kind of Max that was nice to him, would probably never come again as she still sort of blamed him for breaking her Flock in two), but had not really taken her advice to heart. None of the half-Flock had bothered to approach him. They mostly acted like he wasn't even there. So why the heck was this one trying to strike up a conversation with him?

He wrenched back his lips in a grimace trying to show his fierce, piercing Eraser teeth. Max had named the two ways of dealing with the Nudge-flow, but he dared to try another method. A low growl bubbled then erupted from his throat, but the girl just smiled faintly and shook her head.

"I _used _to be afraid of you. Emphasis on the past tense. Now, I'm not. Now, I just kind of feel sorry for you. I mean, you're gonna die soon, and--" Her eyes widened in dramatic horror, and her hand flew to her mouth. Ari rolled his eyes. "Oops! Darnnit. I didn't mean that. _Please_ forget that I said that. Max is always talking to me about something called _tact_ and apparently I'm supposed to _think_ of what I'm going to say before I actually say it. I believe that it's stupid, as time is wasted, and you'll never know how someone _really _feels if they don't tell you what's on their mind, right? And that's how lying and deceit happens. And I hate liars. Not _you, _Ari, cause you never lied. You were always very open about how much you wanted to kill us. But then Max also said that, y'know, sometimes it can hurt to say things straight off the top of your head. Like what I said about you dying. She specifically mentioned that I wasn't supposed to say anything. So sorry. _Again!_ Sorry."

Max was right. He should've run. Ignoring her wasn't working. Her incessant chatter could slink past any filter his mind could put up. She was worse than his Voice. But--and this, Ari knew, was the reason he couldn't walk away--her logorrhea distracted him from his pain. Even though every part of him still burned, still blistered with a threatening pulse, it didn't seem so bad. He wasn't really focused on it; listening to this girl and concocting a million ways to shut her up had taken over his focus. Nothing had dulled, he knew, but somehow, it _seemed_ like it.

So he stayed.

And he listened. Just in case.

And he grew increasingly annoyed with every word she spoke.

"And not only _that_," This chick wasn't very good at changing the subject, was she? "But you, like, aren't that scary anymore."

"I am _too _scary!"

Nudge smiled with a smug and pitying air, as though she knew everything and Ari knew nothing, but that was okay, she'd help him. "Sorry, Ari, but you really aren't. I mean, you've got the whole freakish-half-wolf thing going for you, but the spark is just gone. I used to run in terror! Now, I just yawn in boredom. Where's the horror? Where are the nightmares that used to haunt me? Gone. You've let robots take your place."

Phht. She thought that Ari wasn't that scary anymore? He could be plenty scary! He'd make her afraid. He'd make her cry.

He suddenly stood up, ignoring the pain of his body that was falling apart, and made himself as big as he could be. He arched his arms and curved his fingers in a menacing way like a Hollywood monster about to attack. Very nice, he complimented himself. His lips pulled back and he flitted his tongue through and around his sharp incisors. This time, the growl began in the pit of his stomach. It toiled and turned there, waiting until it was at maximum frightening capabilities before he released it with a ROAR!! He hadn't had a good growl in _forever_, and he relished in it by closing his eyes. He aided his roar with a maddening cackle-- he was having fun. His laugh had always frightened the feathers off the dinky little bird kids before. He _heard _their hearts skip a beat. He saw their knees knock together as the terror emanating from his mighty howl surrounded them.

At this, Ari was king.

Then he opened his eyes and saw that Nudge hadn't even blinked.

Even worse, she _yawned._

It was a real loud yawn, an obnoxious yawn, complete with stretching her arms acting like Ari's howl was the most boring thing she'd ever witnessed. His stomach turned again, not with precursor for a snarl but with anger. How _dare_ she??

And then she started to laugh.

Was she trying to get killed? The brown bird-kid had a death wish. She _wanted_ him to claw her face in-- that was it. She didn't really find him funny. She couldn't. He was Ari freaking Batchelder! If he had one thing going for him, it was that he was Ari: Eraser to Be Feared. Right? Even Max was afraid of him. Right?

_So why was she still laughing?_

"Oh, Ari, you are _too_ funny!"

"I wasn't _trying_ to be funny! You're supposed to run in fear!" Then Ari realized how pathetic he sounded, and the way Nudge's laughter only increased and how she now held her stomach as though fearful it would fall out. He bit back his lip to keep from saying anything else. His sharp fang broke skin, and he tasted the salt in his blood.

The sharp pang registered, and Ari realized again that he didn't feel anything. None of those familiar aches that came with what he knew to be dying. Oh, _now_ he felt them. They came back, ready to wreak what felt like pain tenfold having seemingly abstained from hurting him for a while. But when he was trying to scare her, and when he grew furious at her mocking, he hadn't felt anything.

Weird.

"I'm sorry," Nudge said as she collected herself, "Well, actually, no I'm not sorry. It really is pretty funny, but I respect you for giving it your best."

It wasn't his best. He could do a lot worse. If he really wanted to patch up his wounded wolf-man pride, he could've morphed and scratched her to bits. But he didn't want to. Not that he didn't want to treat his bruised ego, he just didn't want to hurt her in the process. He didn't _want_ her to be scared of him.

That was it.

Cause if she grew scared of him, she wouldn't talk to him. And if she didn't talk to him, her never-ending stream of noise couldn't be the relief, the distraction, he so desperately longed for. This girl had some kind of power. Somehow, by reaching through the door the Flock had locked to keep Erasers out, Nudge could take the pain away. Only for a while, sure, but even magic had its limits. Aladdin's genie couldn't bring people back from the dead; this girl couldn't make his pain end forever.

But she could for a little while.

And he liked that.

So he kept her talking.

"So what _are _you afraid of?"


End file.
